Coffee Shop Blues
by kawaiichoconeko
Summary: A small (or huge) twist on when Takaoka subs Karasuma as a PE teacher. Karma doesn't trust him and tries his best to convince Okuda Manami as well. Karmanami! As usual reviews are love! Taking karmanami requests!


It was almost too funny to Karma Akabane. How laughable was it that some big, fat guy appears right after PE to sub for Karasuma? Karma, of course, was already suspicious of this man. Takaoka-sensei was a big man who said that he'd train them in place of Karasuma. And yet, he brought _cakes_. Without skipping a beat, Karma quickly avoided him.

"Karma-kun?" asked Manami Okuda later that day. It was chemistry time and the two were lab partners (which was specially requested from Karma himself). "You seem distracted…" Manami was also suspicious. A spaced out Karma was never to be heard of.

"It's nothing," replied Karma lightly, waving a tube of chemicals around, "What do you think of Takaoka-sensei?"

"The new PE teacher?" asked Manami, adding some phosphate to their blue- green fizzing mixture. "He's…nice I guess. He spent his money on cake for us after all…"

"So that's it," mumbled Karma to himself, suddenly looking very bored.

"What's it?" questioned Manami, adjusting her black framed glasses.

"Nothing," smiled Karma, who regained his taunting voice, "Wanna hang out after school today?"

**X**

Okuda Manami fidgeted awkwardly in her seat, playing with one of her braids. The café Karma had brought her to was close to empty. It was old fashioned. A record player sat in the corner and various jazz records were on top of a brown, dusty mahogany shelf. A wilted plant sat on top, its leaves brown as the shelf and withered. Outside, cars and people passed by, not even glancing at the old café. However, as nervous as she was, Manami liked it. The café was cozy and quiet. A perfect place to talk and relax.

"Master," said Karma taking a seat next to Manami, "Two cappuccinos please." He then focused his attention towards Manami who was still rather uncomfortable. "I hope you don't mind me ordering for you."

"It's fine," replied Manami quickly, "I wouldn't know what to order anyways. So what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Karma's grin shrunk.

"Takaoka-sensei…" he started, "isn't trustable." Their drinks arrived just then. Manami thought as she reached for her cup and took a tentative sip. The dark brown drink burnt her tongue and was bitter. She didn't like it.

"What makes you think that?" she asked, setting the old, stained white cup down on the creaky table.

"Isn't it suspicious that he's huge and eats cakes even though he's supposed to be teaching us how to _kill_?" asked Karma, taking a sip of his and seemingly not minding the bitterness.

"I suppose so…" said Manami.

"If he is a pro assassin," said Karma, setting his own cup down, "then all that "fat" is actually muscle."

"Karasuma-sensei has muscle too…" replied Manami, taking another sip out of politeness. She almost cringed.

"Okuda-san," said Karma rather gravely, "You're gonna have to trust me on this. He's not a safe person. Now, I'll be skipping PE tomorrow and I want you to do the same." Manami stared at him, shocked.

"I-I don't know…" said Manami, nervously twisting her braid, "I mean, he might be a nice person. A little pushy maybe…"

"So you're going to go anyways?" asked Karma, who was drinking his cappuccino calmly.

"Probably…" mumbled Manami, "It wouldn't be right to skip."

"Oh whatever," said Karma lightly, attempting to change the subject, "It's been nice Okuda-san. Wanna do this again tomorrow?"

"Sounds like a plan," said Manami, plastering a smile onto her face. She had not quite recovered from the suspicions Karma told her.

**X**

The next day, Manami looked around. Sure enough, Karma wasn't at PE class. She nervously played with her braids as Takaoka told them to sit down. The ground was wet from the morning dew. She wasn't really paying attention, but after a nice lecture about cake, his voice changed.

"You will all treat me like a father," he said menacingly, "and you _will_ all do as I say.

There was a sudden murmur within the class. Was this some sort of prank? What happened to the Takaoka yesterday? He was so cheerful and happy…

"Okuda-san," whispered Kayano, "Is it just me or does he seem like a different person?" Manami only nodded, fearing that what Karma had suspected was actually true.

"Anyone _not_ willing to follow me?!" Takaoka barked. With a sudden force of courage, Manami carelessly stood up. She could feel the students' stares boring into her head. Takaoka looked over at her, smiling and eyes wide as saucers.

"You'll be staying after," he said, grinning like the Cheshire cat, "NOW 300 SQUATS!" The students quickly scrambled to their feet, not willing to get threatened.

"This sucks," muttered Maehara under his breath to Isogai. He thought his knees were already breaking. Other students looked uncomfortable too.

Manami was scared. Karma wasn't around and he couldn't help her. If she went up against Takaoka, the man that was three times larger than her, she'd surely loose.

"Are you feeling OK?" asked Suzaki-san politely, "I, just like you, prefer Karasuma-sensei as well."

"QUIT THE CHATTER OR THE BLOOD WILL SPLATTER!" shouted Takaoka. It quickly turned from a mob of whispers to complete silence. This was not going to be good.

**X**

Karma tapped his right index finger impatiently against the café's wooden table. Manami was 15 minutes late and he didn't like it. She may have been clumsy, but she was almost _never _late for an appointment.

"Your girlfriend not coming today?" asked the barista. He was a kind old man who was often seen smiling, even when alone. To Karma, he looked like a hippie with his rainbow glasses and peace signs.

"She isn't my girlfriend," chuckled Karma, playing with his straw.

"Well you should probably go check on her," said the old man, "She seems like one of those punctual types." A thought suddenly came to Karma's mind. She _was_ the punctual type. What if she was in trouble?! Without another word, Karma ran out the door and towards his class. He ran as fast as he could. After running a few blocks, he felt his legs begin to give in. His lungs were burning, but he didn't stop.

"SAY IT!" boomed a voice, right as Karma neared the field. He ran around the school…only to find a gruesome sight.

Manami was lying on the ground, bruised badly as Takaoka looked at her with angry, power craving eyes.

"What're you doing?!" demanded Karma, eyes filled with fury.

"Just a father teaching one of his kids to learn discipline," replied Takaoka, smirking, "Why weren't you here today? It's important for a father to bond with _all_ of his kids."

"As if I wanted to bond with you," growled Karma dangerously. He helped Manami up gently and let her lean on his shoulder.

"Such a naughty child," roared Takaoka, "I need to disciple these children!" Takaoka ran at full speed, swinging his right arm violently behind him.

Thinking quickly, Karma grabbed a stray knife on the ground and quickly pushed Manami to the side. As Takaoka lunged toward Karma, the red head saw his chance. Takaoka's weight and balance were leaning forward so with a strong push, Karma sent his power craving gym teacher falling face forward.

Takaoka quickly rolled over onto his back just in time to dodge a strike from Karma's knife. Karma bit his lower lip in concentration as he crawled _behind_ his teacher to place the knife securely against Takaoka. Takaoka struggled violently, but gave in when the cold metal touched his neck. He realized that if he struggled any further, he was going to die.

Seeing this as a chance, Karma carried Manami bridal style all the way back to the café, where the old man gave him an emergency kit, no questions asked.

"Sorry Karma-kun," winced Manami in pain as Karma dabbed some antibiotic on her scratches, "If I wasn't so careless, this whole thing wouldn't have happened."

"Such a silly girl," sighed Karma, smiling as he put one of the various bandages on her leg. She had been scratched up and bruised pretty badly. Explaining this to her parents wouldn't be very easy. Thank goodness Takaoka didn't hit her face. "Next time, just listen to me." He gently patted her head.

"But I don't want to be troubling Karma-kun," mumbled Manami guiltily.

"It hurts me even more to see you like this to be honest," chuckled Karma. Manami blushed. "Next time," he said, "I'll stay right by your side."


End file.
